Conventional camera systems are used in surroundings detection systems of vehicles. The optical systems detect the vehicle surroundings and supply pieces of information for further vehicle systems. In addition to detecting the front or rear area of the vehicle, special types are available, for example, which supply pieces of information when driving at night or monitor the traffic lane of the driver.
The camera systems are composed of a lens carrier including a lens system made up of multiple lenses and an image sensor. The lens carrier is manufactured as standard from specially reinforced polymeric plastic materials, which due to high tolerance requirements in regard to the dimensional and positioning accuracy have an accordingly high purchase price. At the same time, these materials are difficult to process. During assembly of the camera system, care must be taken that the lens carrier, including the lens system, is oriented toward the image sensor since only then it is ensured that the image sensor detects the correct image.
German Patent Application No. DE 10 2004 009 920 A1 describes a camera system, in particular for a surroundings detection system of a motor vehicle, including a holding frame for mounting a lens carrier, whose lens system is used to guide incident light onto an image sensor. The holding frame includes a support surface for the lens carrier which is situated largely in parallel to the plane of the image sensor, and the lens carrier is displaceable in the plane of the support surface in an adjustment position, and permanently fixable in a setpoint position.